Mechanical seed coupling
AssigneesMitsubishi Polycrystalline Silicon America Corporation (MIPSA), Mitsubishi Materials Corporation
InventorsJoseph Lovorn, Larry Gurley
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Abstract
An apparatus and method of manufacturing silicon seed rod in which two silicon seeds are joined into one long silicon seed rod by mechanical coupling. A mechanical seed coupler is a body in having an outer wall, an upper surface with an upper aperture, a lower surface with a lower aperture, and an inner wall surrounding an inner space. The mechanical seed couple can be of a shape including a cylinder shape, an elliptical tube shape, a rectangular tube shape and a square tube shape. Furthermore the mechanical seed coupler can be of unitary construction, made from one solid piece of material, or it can be composed of subparts.
Claims13
A seed rod extender for extending a seed rod comprising:
- a length of seed rod having a tip at one end for coupling to a short connecting rod and a mechanical coupler with a single aperture consisting of at most two surfaces inside the single aperture:
- an upper surface in contact with an angled surface corresponding to a respective surface of a seed rod to be coupled to the seed rod extender,
- wherein the mechanical coupler is made from polycrystalline silicon.
A seed rod extender for extending a seed rod comprising:
- a length of seed rod having a tip at one end for coupling to a short connecting rod and a mechanical coupler with a single aperture consisting of at most two uninterrupted surfaces inside the single aperture:
- an upper surface in contact with an angled surface corresponding to a respective surface of a seed rod to be coupled to the seed rod extender,
- wherein the mechanical coupler is made from polycrystalline silicon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.